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ST Graveyard Review

24th November 2002
Author: Matthias Arndt

ST Graveyard - 2002-11-24

 
Lethal Xcess

Introduction

I got a really nice surprise in my mailbox. We have a special guest reviewer today. Matthias Arndt (of Pompey Pirates Archive fame) gave the classic "Lethal Xcess" a look. He discusses the technical details behind this great piece of gaming software, so make sure to check it out!

Maarten Martens (webmaster of ST Graveyard)

Review by Matthias Arndt, November 24 2002

Comments

Lethal Xcess is also known as "Wings of Death 2". Technically it is an improved version of Wings of Death with even better effects. The game idea is the good ole vertical scrolling shoot'em up with loads of enemies to shoot at and goodies to collect. This is the holy grail of Atari ST shoot'em up games! The impressive loading screen is just a preview of the things to come!   Lethal Xcess - Loading screen
The loading screen

Graphics

Lethal Xcess - Main Menu   This game has very well drawn graphics. It takes advantage of raster effects to display more than 16 colours on screen. This can be seen in the main menu of the game. 
The main menu
 
 
Lethal Xcess - Game Screen   Lethal Xcess uses overscan techniques to display the playfield allowing the ST to display 256 raster lines instead of 200. One of the few games for the ST that actually takes advantage of the tricks which were developed by demo coders. The playfields are well drawn and colourful, consisting of many tiles giving variety to the background.
The game screen
 
 
Lethal Xcess - Huge Sprites move smooth and flickerfree   The game engine is very well written. It won't slow down when rendering lots of huge sprites. 96 pixel wide sprites will move smooth, fast and well animated over your screen! Sometimes you'll even think that they won't leave any place free on the screen for your ship.
Huge sprites move smooth and flickerfree all over the screen.

Sound

Lethal Xcess - Level One   This game features some of the finest sound effects and muzaks on the ST. Jochen Hippel (aka Mad Max) was in charge. A different tune per level, sampled sound effects and speech snippets make a fine audio experience for ST standards!
This is the first level. The game starts really hot. This won't be an easy trip!    

Gameplay

Lethal Xcess - Shooting Waves of Aliens reveals Extras   Shooting whole formations of enemies will reveal extra pods which you can collect to upgrade your ship. There are 5 different weapons which can be upgraded by simply collecting the same pod again. Extra energy, smart bombs and an evil skull extra which will reset your current weapon to the weakest version add variety to the game.
As in all decent shoot'em up games, there are lots of extras to collect.
 
 
 
Lethal Xcess - Lots of enemies make Life hard   The game features really hard and fast action on screen. Many colourful sprites and shots move smoothly over the screen. Some of the enemies will even home in on your ship trying to crash into you.
Lots of enemies make life hard and short!
 
 
 
Lethal Xcess - Two Playermode   Lethal Xcess has a two player mode. Each player has his own ship. Even the types of the ships are different making it easier to spot your ship. A nice blast together with a friend!
2 players blasting their way through!  

Conclusion

Lethal Xcess - Hiscore Table   This is a true classic showing what the ST is capable of. The game itself is hard and frustrating (I never ever managed to reach the boss of Level 1.) But the effects and technical brilliance of this game make it a winner!  Check out the homepage by the original programmers at http://lethalxcess.atari.org/.
Any decent game should have a highscore table for you to sign.  

Score

Graphics  10/10
Sound  10/10
Gameplay  7/10
Overall  9/10

If you have any comments or like to contribute to this review, make sure to contact Matthias.

©2002 "ST Graveyard". All rights reserved

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Matthias Arndt the author of this review and Maarten Martens the webmaster of the "ST Graveyard" kindly allowed me to republish this article on my site.
Lethal Xcess aka Wings of Death II a classic shoot'em up for Atari ST(E) and Amiga computers was developed by Claus Frein and Heinz Rudolf, Music by Jochen Hippel, Producer Marc Rosocha.

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All files on the Lethal Xcess Website copyright © 2001 Heinz Rudolf
Lethal Xcess copyright © 1991 Eclipse Software Design.
Wings of Death copyright © 1990 Thalion Software.
ST/Amiga Soundtracks copyright © 1990/1991 Jochen Hippel.
Cybernetics Font copyright © 1991 Jérôme Hubert.
C64 Graphics © 1992 Oliver Lindau
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This page has been updated 10.01.2005